Sept. 4, 1920: Man o?’ War won the 1 5/8-mile Lawrence Realization Stakes at Belmont Park by 100 lengths, the largest winning margin in modern racing history. His time for the race, 2:40 4/5, shattered the world record by 6 4/5 seconds and was his fifth record-setting performance of that year.
Sept. 4, 1959: Allaire du Pont?’s two-year-old Kelso won his maiden race by 1 1/4 lengths at Atlantic City. In the following year, Kelso was voted the first of his record five consecutive Horse of the Year titles.
Sept. 7, 1970: Bill Shoemaker surpassed John Longden?’s then-record of 6,032 wins when he piloted Dares J to victory at Del Mar and became the world?’s winningest jockey.
Sept. 8, 1990: Bill Shoemaker scored his first stakes victory as a trainer when he sent a five-year-old mare, Baldomero (IRE), to victory in the Osunitas Handicap at Del Mar.
Sept. 8, 1999: The Emirates Racing Association announced that the 2000 renewal of the Dubai World Cup would be worth $6 million.
Sept. 8, 2002: On his 41st birthday, Mario Pino became the 18th jockey to ride 5,000 winners by visiting the winner?’s circle twice at Delaware Park. Pino got his 5,000 win when he guided Outdone to victory in the ninth race.
Sept. 10, 1999: Churchill Downs Incorporated completed its purchase of Hollywood Park Racetrack and Casino, including approximately 240 acres of land at the site in Inglewood, Calif.
Sept. 11, 1976: In the third race at Latonia, jockey John Oldham and his wife, Suzanne Picou, became the first husband and wife riding team to compete in a parimutuel race together. Oldham finished second aboard Harvey?’s Hope and Picou rode My Girl Carla to an 11th-place finish.
Sept. 11, 1982: Jockey Earlie Fires had his 3,000th career win, aboard Volga Ace, in the fourth race at Arlington Park.
Sept. 12, 1944: A dead-heat for win and show occurred in the eighth race at Hawthorne.
Sept. 12, 1970: Nijinsky II won the St. Leger Stakes and became the 15th winner of England?’s triple crown. He is the last horse to have won the English triple.
Sept. 12, 1973: Fully recovered from a virus that had beset him at Saratoga, Secretariat worked five furlongs in :57 as his last preparation for the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap.
Sept. 12, 2000: A colt by Storm Cat was purchased for $6.8 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. It was the highest price paid for a yearling since 1985.
Sept. 13, 1974: D. Wayne Lukas won his first Thoroughbred stakes victory, saddling his own three-year-old colt, Harbor Hauler, in the second division of the Foothill Stakes at Pomona to earn $6,312.
Sept. 13, 1989: Jockey Pat Day won eight of the day?’s nine races at Arlington International Racecourse. In his only loss, Day finished second on Wayne?’s by George.
Sept. 14, 1853: West Australian won the St. Leger Stakes by three lengths and became England?’s first Triple Crown winner.
Sept. 14, 1959: The new $32 million Aqueduct, operated by the New York Racing Association, opened.
Sept. 14, 2001: The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders?’ Cup Limited announced the formation of the NTRA Charities ?- New York Heroes Fund to benefit the children and spouses of the firefighters, police officers, emergency workers and other victims who perished in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The organizations also dedicated the Oct. 27 Breeders?’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, to be run at Belmont Park to the memory of those slain and their survivors.
Sept. 15, 1876: Isaac Murphy, one of the nation?’s greatest black jockeys, had his first career win, aboard Glentina, at the Kentucky Association meet in Lexington. Then known as Isaac Burns, Murphy later adopted the surname of his grandfather.
Sept. 15, 1973: Secretariat won the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap in the then-world record time of 1:45 2/5 for 1 1/8 miles. He defeated his stablemate, Riva Ridge, by 3 1/2 lengths. The winner?’s share of the purse, $150,000, made Secretariat a millionaire.
Sept. 15, 2001: Jockey Russell Baze, the fourth winningest rider in history behind only Laffit Pincay Jr., Bill Shoemaker and Pat Day, registered his 7,500th career victory after piloting Valid Double to victory in the third race at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, Calif.
Sept. 16, 1972: Sent off at odds of 1-5, Secretariat won the Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park by 1 3/4 lengths, creating a minus show pool at the track of $4,985.
Sept. 16, 1978: For the first time in history, two Triple Crown winners met in a race, the Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park. Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown winner, defeated Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner, by three lengths.
Sept. 16, 1991: Jockey Jose Santos won his 2,000th career victory, aboard Sunny Sara at Belmont Park.
Sept. 16, 2000: Keeneland successfully executed the Thoroughbred industry?’s first-ever Internet auction, selling four horses on-line for a total of $109,500. There were more than 200 buyers and agents registered to bid.
Sept. 17, 1973: Penny Chenery announced that Secretariat would make his inaugural start on the turf in the Oct. 8 Man o?’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.
